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The first EBU Loudness Breakfast, during IBC 2012, got more than 80 delegates out of bed for an 08.00 start on Monday morning. The organizers are hoping for another big turnout for this year's edition, again led by Florian Camerer (ORF), the chair of the group that developed R 128, the EBU's Loudness Recommendation.

There has been an ongoing high level of interest in audio loudness throughout the last 12 months. The PLOUD group continues its work, and documents such as Tech 3343, the implementation guidelines for R 128, remain among the most in demand from the EBU library, along with the recommendation itself of course.

While adoptions of R 128 in countries across Europe have continued, the focus of work by the community has shifted to improving the way the sound is processed and widening the domains in which R 128 can be applied. On one hand the aim is to advise on the best ways to set up and use loudness processors, to prevent broadcast audio developing into a kind of 'sausage-processed' sound. But work is also being undertaken to investigate how best to apply the principles of R 128 to other areas like radio, music production and cinema.

This year's EBU Loudness Breakfast reflects these trends. The session will include a review of the current state of play, including progress in adopting the standards, issues around automation and distribution, ways to maintain loudness in music production, applications for radio and the management of loudness in the cinema.

On the panel with Florian Camerer will be Thomas Lund of Denmark's TC Electronics, Eelco Grimm of Utrecht School of Music Technology, and Bosse Ternström, a senior sound engineer with Swedish Radio. Following short presentations from each of the panellists, there will be a discussion and a chance to ask questions from the floor.

The EBU Loudness Breakfast (Emerald Room, Monday 16 September, 08.00-09.15) is free to attend - an IBC conference pass is not required. Coffee and pastries, courtesy of the EBU, will be available from 07.45.

Elsewhere at the conference

The EBU presence at the IBC 2013 conference is not limited to the Loudness Breakfast:

Public Service Media: Innovation & Inspiration: six EBU Members will present projects showing that Europe's public broadcasters play a leading role in technology innovation. (Saturday 14 September, 15.30-17.00)
EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre will speak during the IBC Leaders' Summit, an invitation-only event on Thursday 12 September
The EBU's Hans Hoffmann, in his role as SMPTE's Engineering Vice-president, will chair the organization's session on the current state of UHDTV (Sunday 15 September; 11.00-12.30)
The EBU's Mathias Coinchon will present a paper on " Anonymity or authentication? Enabling hybrid services that are personalised but private ", in a conference session on Smart Viewer Interfaces (Friday 13 September, 15.30-17.00)
Justyna Kurczabinska, manager of the Eurovision News Exchange, will chair the session "Production Technologies 2 - New Tools" (Monday 16 September, 13.30-15.00)